Final Defendant in St. Louis Area Meth Ring Sentenced to 19+ Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS- U.S. District Judge District Court Judge Ronnie L. White on Tuesday sentenced the final defendant in a methamphetamine distribution ring to 19 years and seven months in prison.

Dedrick Deshon Jordan, who was sentenced Tuesday, is one of 15 defendants who pleaded guilty in the case.

Jordan, 35, and his co-defendants Terry James Williams, 37, Clifford Dwight Davis Jr., 43, and Maria D. Flores-Cervantes, 36, were connected to the source of supply in the Los Angeles area, plea agreements say. Jordan and Joseph Robert Holliman, 49, were primarily responsible for arranging the supply of meth, which was sent through the mail or brought to the St. Louis area by couriers. Brendon Darnell Thomas, 47, at times supplied the drug to street-level dealers, plea agreements say. Thomas, Holliman and Jordan each had a residence that they used to receive and store drugs and cash proceeds from drug sales.

More than 15 kilograms of meth were seized during an investigation that began in January 2019. A total of about 1.3 kilograms of nearly pure meth and 8.9 kilograms of marijuana was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on two occasions in 2020. On April 18, 2020, Davis and Flores-Cervantes were stopped in Phelps County, Missouri in an SUV equipped with a hidden compartment containing a loaded handgun, nearly 12 kilograms of meth and 47.8 grams of heroin.

On June 18, 2020, investigators conducted court-approved searches of the homes of Thomas, Jordan and Holliman. They found $129,776 in cash, 190 grams of meth and a digital scale at Jordan's residence. At Holliman's residence, they found vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, electronic scales, ammunition, three firearms and 4.3 grams of meth. At Thomas' residence, they found three firearms, clear plastic bags containing marijuana, a money counter and $17,520 cash.

Thomas was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison. Holliman received seven years. Williams was sentenced to 10 years and Davis received three years and nine months.

The investigation was primarily conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Jefferson County (Mo.) Municipal Enforcement Group, joined bythe Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, the St. Charles City and County Police, the Phelps County Sheriff's Department, the Arnold Police Department and the Normandy Police Department, all Missouri law enforcement offices.